UVa Opens its 61st Season of ACC Play on Saturday vs. No. 21 Louisville

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Sept. 8, 2014

Virginia Welcomes New ACC Foe Louisville to Scott Stadium
• Saturday is Military Appreciation Day at Scott Stadium as UVa welcomes the Louisville Cardinals to Charlottesville for the first time as ACC members, and the first time since 1989.
• In honor of Military Appreciation Day there will be a few different ways UVa will honor those who serve our country.
• There will be a Wounded Warrior recognition, the coin toss will be done by Brigadier General Risch of the UVa JAG School, Midshipman Sarah Fuller will be singing the national anthem with a joint color guard presentation and there will be a pregame parachute exhibition.
• A red, white and blue honorary ribbon will be painted on the field.

Virginia and First Meetings With New ACC Members
• Saturday’s game marks the first time in the series that a meeting between UVa and Louisville will count towards the ACC standings. The Cardinals officially joined the league on July 1.
• UVa is 0-6 when facing a new ACC member for the first time in conference play, dating back to when Georgia Tech joined the ACC in 1979.
• UVa has lost to Georgia Tech (1982), Florida State (1992), Miami (2004), Virginia Tech (2004), Boston College (2005) and Pitt (2013).

Noting Virginia in ACC Openers
• UVa begins its 61st season competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference on Saturday vs. Louisville.
• In conference openers, Virginia holds a 22-38 all-time record.
• The Cavaliers last won an ACC opener at North Carolina in 2009, a 16-3 triumph over the Tar Heels.
• This is the first season since 2010 that UVa has opened its conference slate at Scott Stadium. In 2010 UVa hosted Florida State to open ACC play, but in 2011 (UNC), 2012 (GT) and 2013 (Pitt), UVa opened its league schedule on the road. UVa will play Syracuse for the first time in ACC play in 2015.

Virginia vs. Louisville Series History
• Saturday marks the third time in series history the Cavaliers and Cardinals have met in football and the first since a 1989 contest at Scott Stadium.
• The two schools first met at Louisville in 1988, a 30-28 Cardinal win. Louisville kicker Ron Bell connected on a 39-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the game to give the Cardinals the triumph at Old Cardinal Stadium. UVa had led Louisville 28-14 after scoring on its opening drive of the second half. But Louisville scored 16 unanswered points to snatch the victory away from the Cavaliers.
• The tables were flipped when the series moved to Charlottesville in 1989. Jake McInerney kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired to lift UVa over Louisville, 16-15, in the last meeting of the series.
• McInerney’s kick is one of two field goals in UVa history to win a game with zeros on the clock. The most recent was in 2011 when Robert Randolph chipped a 23-yard game-winner at Indiana.
• Current UVa defensive end Mike Moore’s father, Shawn, gave UVa a 13-9 lead with his 4-yard passing strike to Herman Moore in the closing seconds before halftime. Louisville used two fourth-quarter field goals to build a 15-13 lead before McInerney’s heroics.
• On UVa’s game-winning drive, Shawn Moore orchestrated the offense on a 10-play, 60-yard drive, to set up McInerney’s field goal. The drive included a 25-yard quarterback draw by Moore as the UVa signal caller accumulated for 40 yards during the drive with his own legs.

Virginia – Louisville Connections
• There are a couple connections between Louisville and UVa.
• UL head coach Bobby Petrino coached on the same Weber State staff as UVa special teams coordinator and running backs coach Larry Lewis.
• Lewis was the outside linebackers coach at Weber State from 1981-85, while Petrino was a graduate assistant in 1984.
• Petrino returned for two years, 1987-88, as the wide receivers coach. Lewis at that point had become the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.
• When Petrinio was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons he coached former UVa standout Jason Snelling.
• The two previous meetings between UVa and Louisville the Cardinals head coach was Howard Schnellenberger. Current UVa safeties coach Mike Archer was on Schnellenberger’s Miami staff from 1979-83, which included the Hurricanes’ first National Championship season in 1983.

Last Meeting: 1989 (UVa 16, UL 15)
• Jake McInerney was 3-of-3 on his field goal attempts, including the game-winner with no time on the clock (37 yards). He connected on distances of 28, 44 and 37 yards in the win.
• Shawn Moore was 16-of-24 passing for 213 yards and one touchdown, he was sacked four times, so his 81 rushing yards gained gave him a net of 32 for his total offense numbers.
• Herman Moore made four catches for 51 yards and one touchdown.
• Mark Wilson rushed 20 times for 103 yards for the Cavaliers.
• Ray Savage led UVa with 12 tackles, while Chris Slade had five stops, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss.

New ACC Atlantic Division Foe
•The ACC said so long to Maryland when Louisville joined the league on July 1. Maryland had served as UVa’s annual Atlantic Division crossover opponent every season since the ACC created the division format in 2005.
• Louisville not only takes Maryland’s spot in the Atlantic Division, but will also serve as UVa’s annual crossover opponent, meaning the Cavaliers will play their first game at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in 2015.